David Don Almes of Wichita, Kansas passed away peacefully on May 4, 2026, at Trinity Terrace in Fort Worth, Texas, at the age of 88.

David was born May 27, 1937, in Washington, Pennsylvania, to the Reverend J. Don and Katheryne Almes. After serving churches in Pennsylvania and Ohio, his parents answered the call to serve Bethany United Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas, where David was raised and graduated from Wichita East High School in 1955.

Following in his parents' footsteps, he attended Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio, and graduated from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, in 1959.

In the fall of his freshman year at Muskingum, David met June Browning, beginning a love story that would span nearly 60 years. They married in 1958, settled in Wichita, Kansas, and built a life together rooted in faith, family, and service.

David devoted his entire professional career to the Wichita Public Schools. He began teaching industrial arts at Jardine Junior High, moved to South High School where he also taught driver education, and spent the last 19 years at Northwest High School where he not only taught, but also served as its athletic director for a number of years. He was beloved as a teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend, known for his unwavering high standards, insistence on doing things the right way, and ever-present sense of fun and lightheartedness.

In 1981, David and June became founding members of Covenant Presbyterian Church, where he faithfully served for more than four decades through mission work, Mariners, Bible studies, building projects, men's groups, and countless acts of quiet leadership and care for others.

David had a great love of the outdoors and for the open road. Every summer he, June, and their two daughters, Brenda and Barbara, packed up their camper and hit the road, traveling the country together and visiting as many national parks as possible, standing in awe of canyon rims, mighty forests, spouting geysers, ocean tides, and their favorite, majestic mountains. Even in his retirement, David drove charter buses for Village Travel-he loved to drive and explore, to see what was around the next bend. It was, perhaps, the most natural thing in the world that a man who had spent years teaching others to drive would find such deep joy in the journey and the people along the way.

Early in his teaching career, David taught woodwork, instilling a passion for all things made of wood, and if it was walnut, that was even better! He built clocks, crafted furniture, and assembled intricate model cars, leaving pieces of himself-literally-in every corner of his family's lives. To walk through their homes now is to find him still there, in the tick of a clock, in the smooth finish of a model car's fender, in all the careful work of hands that never sat idle.

David's life was certainly one of impact and legacy, especially for the thousands of students he taught over his nearly 40-year career. One former student said it best just two years ago: "I took every class I could from Mr. Almes at Northwest. He was a great teacher, but more importantly, he taught this kid who could have gone either way in life how to live as a good man." Indeed, David modeled and taught how to be a good man.

David's wife, June, died in 2018, and he is survived by daughters, Brenda Cline (Chad) and Barbara McAdams (Steve); grandsons, Jared Cline (Anna), Jason Cline, Michael McAdams, and Gabriel McAdams (Emily); great-granddaughters, Kendall Cline, Morgan Cline, and Maisie McAdams; brother, Philip Almes (Marian) of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and cousins living in Ohio.